The contouring

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I saw this weekend a report on Anastasia Beverly Hills who is the popesse of the contouring.

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Contouring is a makeup technique that uses dark / light optics to improve the perception of the appearance of a face. The technique has been popularized in the United States, where it has made many followers, including major figures of fashion, film, stage, and other celebrities, such as Kim Kardashian.

Contouring is a makeup technique that can change the perception of facial features, carve the contours of the face to make them more harmonious. It's a makeup that plays with two families of colors, namely dark shades and light shades. It consists of shading the parts of the face that seem too imposing or unflattering and to enhance the natural assets.

This play of shadows and lights, or chiaroscuro, is the very foundation of the technique. By ingeniously distributing shaded tones and clear tones on the face, we can conceal certain areas and highlight other parts through a well-known technique, the highlight. The interest is to discretely enhance the natural assets to better hide the small defects while avoiding going through the plastic surgery box.

The contouring would suit all women, regardless of the shape of the face and the complexion. It is particularly suitable for a person complexed by the size of the nose, double chin, a forehead too small or a face too round. Men can also use this technique to disguise certain features of their face, in order to look their best. There are some who draws abdominals with this technique.

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History

The origins of contouring go back as far as the invention of the art of make-up. It was mainly reserved for professionals in the performing arts and major theatrical performances. During the 1950s, Hollywood stars such as Marilyn Monroe or Sophia Loren were particularly fond of it.

Later in the 1980s and 1990s, this makeup technique was further democratized, becoming more used by professional makeup artists involved in fashion shows, in the cinema or in the middle of the stage.

In recent years, as this technique still seemed to be disappearing from the public arena, the reality TV celebrity Kim Kardashian has fully resurrected her through hundreds of photos of her shared on social media. In these photos, you could see Scott Barnes, a makeup artist Hollywood stars, carefully applying the technique on the face of the young woman.

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Subsequently, YouTube's beauty community helped teach the technique on a global scale. Youtubers from around the world have filmed their contouring techniques that allow ordinary women to recreate this make-up and put their face in the spotlight.

Process

Like any makeup, contouring is a technique that applies to clean and completely unified skin. The first step is to apply a makeup base, consisting of a base of complexion that will help fix the makeup and a foundation of classic perfectly suited to the complexion.

The second step is to shade, that is to say, refine the parts of the face considered too imposing. Specifically, this operation consists of using a matte powder to shrink the forehead, digging the cheeks, refine or shorten the nose, or make the double chin disappear.

The third step is to use a complexion brightener to bring light to the not-so-impressive parts of the face, such as the high crown of the cheekbones, the lower part of the brow bone, the Cupid's bow (above the upper lip), the chin, the forehead, the middle of the nose and the sides of the mouth. After lighting and shading, it is necessary to harmonize the face by melting the colors with a brush or a sponge, a last step which gives a more natural aspect to the face.

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Contouring helps correct facial defects without the need for surgery. However, the processes vary more or less depending on whether the face is round, long, square, rectangle, oval, triangular in shape, or in the shape of an inverse triangle. For each type of face, there is a special way to apply makeup to achieve the desired result.

To work an oval face, it is often necessary to stretch the foundation from the center to the outside, and apply dark powder on the outer contours. For a face too long, it is necessary to redraw the horizontal axis of the chin. To correct a forehead that is too small, light up the forehead and shade the temples. To shrink a part of the face, just shade it, and instead illuminate it when the goal is to enlarge it.

For a too rounded face or jaws too square, it is necessary to shade the bottom of the jaws abundantly.

It should be known that a perfect face is cut into three equal parts at the level of the height, in fact, it is necessary that the area of the forehead, the nose and the mouth are of the same size. If this is not the case, contouring helps to rebalance these 3 zones.

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